Educational Science

Nice Guys Win: Women Choose Altruism Over Looks

Forget the expression nice guys finish last. A new study finds that men who are concerned for the well-being of others in place of themselves may have a better shot with women compared to men who are just good-looking. Researchers found that women reported men as being more attractive when...

Why Are Human Babies So Helpless?

Some animals come into this world more self-sufficient than others. Many can fend for themselves without any parental supervision almost immediately — picture baby sea turtles hatching on the sand and then somehow finding their way to the ocean. Other animals, like newborn giraffe calves, are able to clamber upright...

Ancestors of the mysterious extinct human lineage nicknamed hobbits may have been discovered, a new study finds. The newfound individuals may have been even littler than the hobbits, and date much further back in time (from some 700,000 years ago), scientists added. This suggests these ancestors may have shrunk rapidly...

Why Neanderthals Likely Fathered Few Kids with Modern Humans

Humans today often carry around a small chunk of DNA from Neanderthals, suggesting we interbred with our closest known extinct relatives at some point in our history. So why isn't there more Neanderthal DNA in modern humans? Turns out, the Y chromosome may have been key in keeping the two...

Human Gut Microbes Took Root Before We Were Human

The relationship between humans and the bacteria in our guts extends far back into the past — to the time before modern humans even existed, a new study finds. Microbes in two bacterial families — Bacteroidaceae and Bifidobacteriaceae, which are present in humans and African apes — likely colonized the...

Food for Thought: Human Teeth Likely Shrank Due to Tool Use

Wisdom teeth may have shrunk during human evolution as part of changes that started with human tool use, according to a new study. The research behind this finding could lead to a new way of figuring out how closely related fossil species are to modern humans, scientists added. Although modern...

Neanderthal-Human Trysts May Be Linked to Modern Depression, Heart Disease

Ancient trysts between Neanderthals and modern humans may have influenced modern risks for depression, heart attacks, nicotine addiction, obesity and other health problems, researchers said. The Neanderthals were once the closest relatives of modern humans. Scientists recently discovered that Neanderthals and modern humans once interbred; nowadays, about 1.5 to 2.1...

Rare Charles Darwin Letter Fails to Sell at Auction

A handwritten letter by famed naturalist Charles Darwin to a British marine biologist was put up for auction yesterday (Feb. 25) but failed to sell, according to Nate D. Sanders Auctions, the Los Angeles-based auction house that arranged the sale. The letter, which was originally listed with a minimum bid...

Trace Your Ancient Human Ancestry with New Map

A new map allows us to trace our ancient human ancestry, revealing how extensively past interbreeding has affected people alive today. The genetic analysis behind the map's creation strengthens earlier findings that modern humans migrating out of Africa and interbred with the populations they encountered in Europe and Asia. These...

Newfound Human Species Suggests Africa Was Evolutionary Melting Pot

The most recently discovered extinct human species may have lived less than 1 million years ago, researchers have discovered. This finding suggests that a diverse range of human species might have lived at the same time in Africa, just as they might have in Asia, researchers said. In 2015, scientists...